re:store
Do you remember an episode of the “Sex and the City” where Carrie talks with Miranda about shopping during their usual girl brunch? Miranda was saying that shopping online has become her thing, because it’s easy and gets delivered right to your door saving her time. While Carrie said something like “but shopping is my cardio” meaning that she loves strolling through stores and picking her next fashion IT item. Fast forward a decade or so and we all have become Mirandas scrolling through Instagram or Amazon to quickly get what we need. I must say, shopping online is very convenient but don’t you feel like some fun of it got lost? I certainly do so.
I love finding new brands on Instagram, so many new makers and designers have emerged recently and I am just impressed with them. That’s how I discovered Sezane, a french clothing and accessory brand that captures a current girl just so perfectly. Sezane has become très populaire on Instagram having at that time only physical boutiques in Paris and NY. So on my last trip to Paris among visiting Louvre, Angelina Cafe and seeing the Eiffel Tower, a stop by the Sezanne boutique was on my PARIS TO DO LIST. Alas it was during the winter holidays and the boutique was closed. I was a bit sad but promised to myself to try to visit Sezane back in US. Some days ago I got an invitation for pre-opening of the re:store in San Francisco, CA featuring many cult brands including Sezane! Well, it was obvious that I accepted the invitation gladly. But what I was not expecting is that re:store that was founded by Selene Cruz is going to bring Carrie style shopping back into our lives :)
Selene Cruz, a San Francisco native always had an entrepreneurial mindset from creating cool and popular merchandise while she was in school, to starting her own accessories company, to creating re:store concept store and collaboration space. Here you can find in one physical location all of the cult Instagram brands. She provided a link for the online cool shops to really be able to interact with their customers and for us to see them in real life and discover more. Each section of the store is dedicated to a particular brand with a short snippet of its social media links, press and mission. Under one roof now you can find Brandblack, Sezane, Hozen, Onarin, Anna Sui Cosmetics, Bala, Mlouye and so many more cool brands that mostly were only available online. The three levels of the store are filled with super new, fresh and inspiring clothing, cosmetics and lifestyle products (speaking of the best shopping cardio experience). I am pretty sure if Carrie Bradshaw was a San Franciscan, then re:store would be her most favorite to shop at. Oh, and another major fact is that re:store got funding from Sequoia Capital which usually invests in high profit and high growth tech startups like YouTube, Airbnb and many more. Which proves very vividly that re:store, a San Francisco startup, is a much needed bridge for the retail and new online brands to meet at a perfect location of Maiden Lane.
So in all this new hight tech world, I couldn’t help but wonder … Is all new in some way a well forgotten old? Maybe some classics like finding your favorite clothing brand should be better done IRL with a more personal touch?
re:store 120 Maiden Lane, San Francisco - opens August 8, 2019